


Hidden Spaces

by FiKate



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: F/M, Fic Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-16
Updated: 2011-09-16
Packaged: 2017-10-23 19:05:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/253843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiKate/pseuds/FiKate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for <a href="http://ineedmyfics.livejournal.com/11794.html">I Need My Fics 2011</a> for lithiumlaughter who asked for Arthur and Ariadne and the prompt was <i>It isn't just marks who have vaults they tuck their secrets away in.</i></p><p>This fic moved in a direction I didn't expect as I considered how Arthur and Ariadne interact with each other. It ended up a quiet character study of how things shift between them.</p><p>Thank you to Ashie and Maru for betaing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden Spaces

As they left the airport, Arthur turned to Ariadne and said, "If you ever need me let Cobb know and I'll find you."

She smiled as she considered the certainty in his voice before saying, "I'll remember that."

They went their separate ways, and Ariadne marveled at how quickly Arthur and Eames disappeared into the crowd as if they weren't quite real.

The idea of building dreams was intoxicating, and she knew she'd do it again, but not yet. Instead she returned to Paris and lost herself within engineering parameters, sketches and creating buildings on computers. Some of her plans became models and she knew that architecture firms kept looking at her because she had an eye for bridging the gaps between dream and reality. In the few moments she had that were her own, she'd design impossible buildings and mazes fit only for dreams and wonder if they'd ever be used.

Arthur was clear, in his own quiet way, that he thought she was good at what she did, and also that he wouldn't mind seeing her again. Eames had smirked at them at the airport as he passed and said, "Make sure he puts you on his timetable or else you'll never have a chance."

Ariadne can't remember what she said in response but she hadn't been able to hide a smile as Eames sometimes saw things clearly. She'd wondered about him but then she had wondered about all of the team. Never for long, as the pull of creation and worry about Cobb took over.

In Paris, she sketches places to fit her ideas, mainly of Arthur. Modernist buildings with sharp lines that seem straightforward but the open spaces hid complex stairways and doors that you only saw if you knew to turn your head just the right way or knew the secret. It is her escape from the work that wasn't as interesting and she knew that the only place it would be possible to build it would be in dreams. Parts of Arthur's house slip into her other plans and a major architect compliments her on the idea of hidden space. As with all the other compliments she receives, she nods and thanks them and wonders when real buildings stopped being quite enough.

At her favorite cafe, where she'd first spoken to Cobb, she never looks at the city the same again, it now holds more possibilities than before. Yet there are moments when seeing plans become reality let her know that she is meant to design for this world and not another. One day as she is sketching, there is a thin shadow across her and a calm voice saying, "Where's this one going to be built?"

"I haven't decided yet. It changes on me," She turns the plan so Arthur can see more, it is the main floor of what she considers his building.

He leans over her, tracing ways to move through the space with his finger, not looming but Ariadne thought she could smell the lavender of his suits. Though she'd paid attention before, she'd never found him wearing a scent but there was always something about him that makes her think of the lavender fields of Provence. He sits down and turns the plan towards himself to take a closer look, "Are all of these rooms hidden?"

"Yes and no, it all depends on where you're standing and if you know where to look. I want to build this one, but it's complicated. This is only the first floor, at this point it has a fourth floor and part of a fifth. I don't know what I want to do with the roof yet. Do you have any plans for the day?"

She knows he's always prompt and careful with all of his appointments and for her question he smiles, small but true, "No, actually you're what's on my schedule. I keep hearing about fascinating spaces and wondering what you'll build next and where."

He has a gleam in his eye that is as good as one of Eames' winks as she stands up and collects her things. The walk and metro ride to her attic flat is comfortable with easy silences and discussions of Paris and music, this walk isn't the place to talk of other things.

As she unlocks the door, it's interesting to watch him do a quick perimeter of the small space. It's odd that somehow he'd never been here before, but then everything before that trip into dreams happened in that simple warehouse. Now he is in her space and Ariadne can't help but note how easily he fit among her simple furniture and that the slanting afternoon light glints off the pomade he always wears in his hair. His house is the one she keeps planning, so it's easy to gather the plans and lay them out on her true luxury, a beautiful white oak table that was the perfect canvas for blueprints, plans and sketches.

By the time she's laid everything out, he is at her shoulder and smiling, it's small but a look she knows. It's a look that says, this is what you do, not what I do, and I admire it. She begins to lead him through the house, doing her best to create the rooms around them and he understands as she knew he would. A man who can arrange dreams to the second can easily visualize a house that doesn't exist yet, and when he finds another hidden space he almost laughs.

"What's hidden away?" Arthur asks.

"Anything that can fit or needs to be tucked away for a time."

"And when it's time to find the right one?"

"Then you just have to know which door to open."

"I didn't know you were so secretive."

There's the edge of a question which makes her smile as she looks up at him, poised and orderly, "I also never said who I was designing it for."

She sees him take up the challenge as he looks at the plans again, this time to find the hidden logic and she watches him go through each floor, each hidden space thoughtfully, "I think I see how it works. It's not a maze but holds some of the same ideas. Always a place to slip away safely from whatever may appear and little clutter, simple yet complex enough to be lost if you don't know the way."

"And with a few surprises," Ariadne adds.

"Controlled surprises."

Ariadne laughs, he seems serious other than something in his eyes and she leans up to kiss him and finds it returned as she discovers that the lavender is in his hair not his suit.

After a few enjoyable moments, he says, "Not too controlled I think, if they're this pleasant."

She kisses him again with more passion to see how much control he'll release, and he moves one hand into her hair as the other stays on the plans. After the kiss turns into many kisses, he gives her the most open smile she's seen from him and says, "There's a job for you if you want it."

"I know and I'll take it as long as you'll take this."

He's still, the stillness that inspires all those hidden spaces, before saying, "Good. I want to know what's hiding away."

"So do I." It will take time as dreams are strange and porous things but the waking world creates a foundation to get lost upon.


End file.
